Meek’s Cutoff (2010)

Pioneers panic after realizing their guide is completely lost.

The minimalist, harrowing drama Meek’s Cutoff is probably best known for igniting a debate about art and entertainment when NY Times Magazine’s Dan Kois labeled it as boring and cited watching it as an example of “eating your cultural vegetables” (i.e., something that you do out of a need to prove your sophistication, rather than for pleasure). While the debate had merit, using Meek’s Cutoff as a central example of an overcooked cultural vegetable was misguided — chiefly because, well, the film isn’t boring. It’s slow-moving and sparse, but it’s also fucking terrifying and intense and taut and forces you to consider the pioneer experience in ways that you never really wanted to. Meek’s Cutoff is kind of like the classic computer game Oregon Trail, except crossed with The Shining — instead of laughing when your pioneer family gets lost and the wagon breaks a wheel, the movie makes you realize the utter horror of wandering hopelessly across barren terrain with some other family that you’re starting to view less as companions and more as potential brunch.